The Nameless Victims
On October 18th, 1983, a couple is mushroom hunting on a piece of remote farmland in Newton County, Indiana, when they make a horrific discovery—bodies in a shallow grave. They are four young men, three Caucasian men, and one African American man, and they’ve been brutally murdered. Two of the men are quickly identified. The other two remain John Does. The murders are quickly connected to the Midwestern serial killer, Larry Eyler, who confesses to 23 murders, including the four men found by the Indiana farmhouse. Eyler remembers two of the victims’ names, but he cannot recall other two names. Decades pass, then, in 2008, newly-elected Newton County Coroner, Scott McCord, is cleaning out his future office space when he makes a shocking discovery—two skeletons, loosely packed in nondescript bankers’ boxes. They are Eyler’s John Does. Finding the identities of these young men becomes a personal passion for McCord. He gives them names, “Adam” and “Brad” and vows not to stop until they have been returned to their families.
On April 25, 2021, just three days before this episode of Unsolved Mysteries was scheduled to be released, the Newton County Coroner’s office officially announced a positive identification for one of the two nameless male victims of Larry Eyler. The victim known as “Brad Doe” for nearly 38 years, was revealed to be John Ingram Brandenburg, Jr. of Chicago, IL. He was identified through a collaboration with the DNA Doe Project and the use of genetic genealogy. John or “Johnny” as his mother called him, was 19 years of age when he disappeared. His family has been searching for him ever since and is relieved that this mystery has been solved.
Then, in July of 2023, “Adam Doe” was identified as Keith Lavell Bibbs. Bibbs was 17 years old at the time of his disappearance from Chicago and was identified through the Identify Indiana Initiative, the DNA Doe Project, and the Indiana State Police Lab. His family has been notified.
To see a facial reconstruction image of the remaining unidentified victim, “Adam Doe”, or if you have any information about his identity, contact the Newton County Coroner’s Office at 219-285-2515, or submit a tip at unsolved.com
SUBMIT A TIPDownload a transcript of this episode
William Mitchell
Adam doe has been identified as Keith Lavell Bibbs
Mary
Has Adam Doe been checked against David Williams from New Jersey? The photo here looks a lot like the aged photo for David.
Emily
He does look similar. So I am stuck on this belt thing. And I found that the New Jersey devils had a belt. However I can’t find on google where it says devil just the image. The New Jersey devils also didn’t go to jersey until the early 80s but it still seems possible. I looked at yearbooks from a high school in east St. Louis and I found no black people in them at all. I did find a high school called hall high school in spring valley, IL. Can’t locate a missing person there though. They have a red and white devil mascot also.
aleks
Didn’t eyler die in 94, not 84?
Looove the podcast guys
Cindy Logsdon
Thank You Scott McCord for being a stand up Man!
Jordan
Why isn’t the Transcript link working?
Unsolved Mysteries Post author
Hello! Thank you for alerting us. The issue should now be resolved.
DJ
“Brad” was just recently identified as John Brandenburg Jr of Chicago. Adam is still unidentified.
ASK: Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith
Incredible work on Gera-Lind’s &The Coroner’s parts. Closure is important in such sad & horrific cases as these. I am reading the book, FREED TO KILL by Ms. Kolarik for those who want to learn more about the cases themselves. Her writing is so profound.
Johnny Rodgers
This is one is easy now. Upload the unidentified DNA into GEDmatch and locate the unknown victims’ family tree. Reverse engineer from there and it will become glaringly clear who these unfortunate victims were.